Happy Easter!

We were slammed with that winter storm on Good Friday, so we went to church on Easter Sunday with turtlenecks under our Easter dresses. Not exactly what I had envisioned. This whole Easter in March thing is a bummer. Next year it would be nice if it was at the end of April. Does it ever happen that late?
Saturday night was rough. Julia was up at 2:30 crying. I went to her and she was burning up. I gave her some Motrin and went back to bed. About half an hour later Jesse was crying. I got up with him and laid on the couch with him for a while. I had just put him back in bed an hour and a half later and hadn't even made it back to my bed when Julia was crying again. She said she couldn't sleep so I brought her out to the couch with me. She kept wiggling around and it occurred to me that maybe she had to pee. I asked her and yes, indeed, she did. Why my six and a half year old couldn't tell me that in the first place, I have no idea. I took her to the bathroom and then we both climbed in my bed. It was 4:45. Lincoln and I have a full size bed, so we did not get the best sleep at this point with a 6 year old sharing our space. At some point Kennedy came and perched on the edge of the bed. She didn't sleep, she just kept messing with stuff on my bedside stand, making enough noise to disturb my attempts at sleep. At this point Lincoln woke me up to get ready for church. I should also mention that I didn't go to bed Saturday night until about midnight because I was getting stuff ready for Easter dinner. I thought I should stay home from church with Julia, but she insisted she was fine (I think she was excited to wear her new Easter dress) so we all got ready and went. We managed to be 15 minutes late, then 10 minutes later she was feverish and laying on my lap. I had intended to keep her out of primary and just take her to my class, but she was miserable enough that we decided to just take her home. Kennedy stayed at church with plans to ride home with friends, and the rest of us went home. So 40 minute drive there, 45 minutes of church (too late to take the sacrament) and 40 minutes back. That's a lot of gas for 45 minutes of church. But at least we got to hear great talks about the Savior on such a special day.
We finished getting dinner ready and our friends, Jim and Bethanie Dietrich and Bethanie's brother and sister-in-law, Jared and Amy, joined us for the meal, along with their kids. Jim and Bethanie have 2 girls and 1 boy and Jared and Amy have one little boy. We had ham and mashed potatoes, rolls, devilled eggs, fruity fluffy salad, steamed veggies, gravy, and chocolate pies. I also made Black Bottom Cupcakes from the Matthews Ward cookbook- yummy! We very much enjoyed our company and the good food. (Bethanie did one of the hams, the fluffy salad, and the rolls).
You may have noticed that there is no mention of the Easter Bunny in this post. In the tradition of my parents, we save that for another day, Spring Holiday. Easter Sunday is reserved for remembering the resurrection of our Savior. Later, after the snow is gone, for good, and the weather is nice, we celebrate Spring Holiday. At this point we have an egg hunt- with goodies purchased after Easter at a great discount!-and we cook out. We spend the day doing fun springtime activities. We might fly kites, play kickball or softball, make big bubbles, ride bikes, go for a hike, or anything else that is outdoors and fun that strikes our fancy. It's a great tradition which we have happily adopted. This year will be an adjustment for the kids, however. In Charlotte, the weather was always nice at Easter time so we often did Spring Holiday the Saturday after Easter. As a kid growing up in the north, I remember waiting for easily a month after Easter for the weather to be nice enough for Spring Holiday. Kennedy has already been telling people that we would have Spring Holiday on Saturday. Considering it snowed like crazy at times during our Easter dinner, I don't think that will happen. Especially with Easter this early.
Here are some pictures from the day. Lincoln and I have been devising a plan to get a new camera. Maybe a combo Molly's birthday, Mother's Day and Father's Day present? In the meantime, more dark pictures. And it's not that I didn't take a picture of Jesse, blogger won't let me download it for some reason.